Red Nose Day and Leute Bokbier

Red Nose Day is a charity telethon done every two years to raise money for children's medical research. It's produced by British charity Comic Relief and broadcast by the BBC and commonwealth affiliates, but hasn't had much traction here in the United States. I only know of it thanks to the Flight of the Concords song which I'm compelled to share with you:


Leute Bokbier

Photo from VanSteenberge.com

This is another Van Steenberge product, but one I failed to capture on film. I tried it in my Chimay chalice, not the goblet pictured. It pours a rich mahogany with towering rocky head. Flavor is sweet, malty, and a little sour, but not as harsh as Monk's Cafe. 7.5% AVB. Not my favorite of the group, but an interesting inclusion in the sampler pack.

Update, Reminder, & Gulden Draak

I'm back in Texas after 3+ weeks at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Highlights: our wargame opposition did not breach our base defenses this year and I got to watch a wild bobcat hunting rabbits with our night-vision overwatch camera. Lowlights: no laundry facilities and a guy in my platoon had an emergency appendectomy while another contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection also requiring surgery. Overall, it was vitally necessary training for me in my new role, but I really wished we could have kept our slot to train there in March. The well-populated deployment timeline would have been much more agreeable with those additional 2 months.

I know this is tiny, but I really like USGS topo maps.

It's about that time to remind my dozen or so readers that there can't be any operational details published here or on Facebook. If you want to be included in my more substantive email updates, please shoot me an email. Any details I include in letters, phone, or skype shouldn't be mentioned online either. Keep it vague or ask me first. Fortunately, this time I expect to have internet access during the whole tour.

Since I interact with most of you entirely online anyway, the deployment may not seem like a huge change. However, for Sarah this will probably be more rough than the 2011 Iraq tour. She's developing friends and a support network through her Masters' program at Baylor, but it's not as well-established or geographically dense as folks she could rely on in Pittsburgh and State College. I'm sure I'll find my fair share of adversity, but please remember to support her as well.

Gulden Draak

If it were merely a 10.5% ABV beer called 'Golden Dragon,' it would still be extremely cool. But Gulden Draak is more than that. It's "named after the golden statue at the top of the belfry in Ghent;" leaving the name untranslated is much more powerful and the opaque packaging is at once both iconic and mysterious. And it keeps UV light from skunking your beer. The beer itself pours with a rich color and rocky head. I didn't take notes on the aroma, but I remember it being appealing. The flavor is full of sweet malts that don't stray over to the saccharine line. That 10.5% goes down smooth.

Is it a Tripel? A Barleywine? I don't care, but it's definitely a brew worthy of a chalice.

Reflections on the Tattoo & Maredsous 8

It was almost exactly a year ago that I got my tattoo down in Austin. I haven't once regretted it, so that's a good sign.

This article came out well after I was inked for life, but it compiles a lot of the history of tattooing as well as the decision making process I'd come up with on my own.  The best advice he has by far is

If you’re going to get a tattoo, pick out your design, make sure it is original and has personal meaning, and then wait a year.

Following this rule is why Sarah has no tattoos yet. She has some ideas we've talked about, but nothing firm or lasting enough to make the permanent commitment. I had been working on some version of my design for over a year and I'd only gotten stronger in my conviction. Since then I've thought about getting additions in the same style.  Maybe knots or sprials or even text.  Perhaps I'll sketch them out one day, but for now I appreciate the timeliness of getting this tattoo. I had just started my family with Sarah and I was about to go to war; it was the right time for me to get some ink. I can say it's for my heritage and family and I "got it in the army" without fudging details. Those are the beginnings of conversations I'll always be comfortable having which is far more than I can say about some of the designs I've seen people sporting.

That distinction is fascinating to me and judging by the comments of the above article, many others as well. I've spent the past several years around city colleges and the military which are both rather pro-tattoo in their own ways. But a lot of people still fail to appreciate any artistic difference between different tattoos and styles consequently painting all tattoos as dumb/defiling or wonderful expression/art. I think it's an art and personal expression, but there is still such a thing as bad art and dumb expression; I'll do my best to promote good art and intelligent expression.

Sarah and I went to O'brien's Pub last night where I had the good fortune of trying a beer I'm reasonably certain was Maredsous 8.  The tap handle displaying the image of a monk and the name Maredsous. The first pint poured dark and red with a thick, creamy head. It was a bit on the sweet side with strong notes of plum and raisin that I really liked.  The second pint had less of a head, but tasted and smelled just as rich.  This is my first Belgian ale on-tap, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty tasty.

Photo from brassam.net

Year's End & St. Bernardus Abt 12

Trying to set up our new house and celebrate the holidays pushes updating the website down the list of priorities each evening.  Sarah has been bloggin' away, though; you can follow her iPhone photos of our recent event over on From the Desk.  More to come here, though; prepare for Motorcycle Mondays to resume with gusto.

Sarah and I went to a friend's house to watch the Lesnar/Overeem fight.  It was a BYOB sort of gathering and I brought St. Bernadus Abt 12 because a] it's a Belgian abbey ale I've never had that turned up on-post and b] it looks strange enough that no-one would "accidentally" mistake it for something they brought.

Photo from Ryan Conklin at Tasty Daze

When I got it, I had no idea how much Beer Advocate loves this one. I had it chilled on ice with the lagers that other folks brought and I think that was a mistake. At first I thought it might not be cold enough. It poured with a big root beer float head and tasted over-roasted for an abbey ale. As it warmed up, it got better, but I don't think my choice in glassware helped either.  Probably one I'll have to try again.

Marksmanship Re-Post & Chimay Première

Blogger went down and then came back but all of the posts since Wednesday are still missing.  Hopefully they will be able to recover my post, because I don't want to hunt down all those pictures again.

In case it never comes back, I wanted to let all my loyal readers know that I shot Expert at the M4 range on Wednesday.  With iron sights on paper targets, I hit 37 out of 40 rounds which qualifies me for this new emblem on my dress uniform:

Chimay Première is the Dubbel from Chimay alongside the Grande Reserve Tripel.  It's also very good in the Belgian dark ale style, though head-to-head I think I prefer the Tripel.  This is a bit more ruddy and cloudy in appearance and less-polished in flavor.  But downright tasty and still way above average.

Kittens & Rochefort 10

I realized I have been neglecting to introduce my dear readers to Darwin (left) and Huxley (right), the kittens that Sarah and I adopted.  We had talked about getting pets for some time, including a misadventure (nearly) acquiring a puppy last summer, but the timing was never quite right.  Well Sarah found someone in the Pittsburgh area looking to give some kittens a good home which lead to these siblings joining our family.  Sarah wanted two so they could entertain each other while left alone and they seem perfectly capable of doing that.  Darwin is the female, slightly smaller and less eager to be held with a penchant for exploring.  Huxley is male, larger, and a bit more calm being handled, but he plays rougher; no qualms about using claws or nibbling on you.  It was really nice to finally meet them, since my only interaction with them prior had been through skype.  They took to me quickly, playing and sleeping near my head.  I imagine they'll change quite a bit in the year we're apart, but I hope that early bonding will be memorable for their little kitty brains.

Another Belgian Trappist Ale?  This one is a Quadrupel called Rochefort 10 that I had the pleasure of trying during Easter dinner with family.  Every ounce of this brew originated at the hands of a few careful monks inside the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy.  The Rochefort series (6, 8, and 10) are numbered after an old method of rating the strength of a beer, with the 10 bearing the strongest flavors as well as 11.3% ABV.  It had a bit of the same cherry flavors as Trois Pistoles and Three Philosophers, but presented them in a more refined and balanced way that agreed with my palate.  This was a rich brew that seemed to get better as it warmed.  I will definitely be trying this again, given the chance.

Planning a Surprise and Chimay Grande Réserve

Last week I found out that I would get a 4-day weekend for Easter.  Originally I wasn't planning on doing anything, but on a whim started looking a flight prices anyway.  I happened to find a cheaper American Airlines connection through Dallas to Pittsburgh from Friday evening to Sunday evening.  A plan hatched to surprise Sarah with a visit for the weekend.  Well I arranged for my grandma to pick me up from the airport and kept the whole plan under wraps.  This was easier to accomplish considering that getting confirmation for my extended mileage pass was delayed until Thursday afternoon.  But it all fell into place and Sarah had no idea what was waiting for her outside the apartment when I messaged her from my kindle that I had sent her something that should arrive by 6.  Surprise!

My Aunt gave me a bottle of Chimay Grande Réserve for Sarah and I to try.  This is probably the most famous Trappist Ale and I had been putting off trying it since it will always be there whereas the American and  Canadian experiments in the style may disappear after only a few seasons.  This is a winner.  It's a strong dark Belgian ale with a polished taste.  It's more refined and "beer-like" than the bold dark fruit flavors that come out of Maudite, though the two pour very similarly.  Sarah and I both really enjoyed it.

Brother Thelonious & Camping part 2

Last night had a bright gibbous moon and in combination with my firelight, I really didn't need anything else in order to see fairly well.  Undaunted, I was still eager to try out a new headlamp I'd purchased to take to Iraq.  My previous two headlamps had both been "opportunistically relieved of my possession:" one during a party at Pitt and another at JRTC in January.  This new one is a Princeton Tec like my first one, but a cheaper/lighter model with a red LED that only needs 2 AAAs.  I sewed a nametape on the headband so hopefully this one doesn't walk off like its predecessors.

My stainless steel camp cup has split 3/4" along a seam, but it still performed well for making a pack of ramen noodles.  Straining the cooked noodles took some creativity, though.  I used a nalgene bottle to push the hot noodle-water out the sides like a leaky piston.

Tonight's beverage is Brother Thelonious.  North Coast brewery donates a portion the sales of this brew to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.  So off the bat, that's a pretty cool tie-in.  The beer itself is a strong dark Belgian-style ale.  It pours with a rich, mahogany color with strong raisin flavors, including a relative sweetness.  This flavor profile masks the 9.4% ABV very well and makes it pretty good for sipping.  I would get this again and may do a side by side comparison with Maudite in the future.

New Boots, Trois Pistoles, & Three Philosophers

I got married precisely a month ago.  Now, that's a pretty big life event and folks usually get dressed up.  However, I didn't want to get married in my dress uniform, or rent a tux, but I also don't have much a wardrobe to choose from down here.  In fact, my civilian options were downright spartan.  I eventually decided to go with dark jeans and a green dress shirt, but my footwear options were only Vibram FiveFingers or government issue.

So Sarah and I took some of the time after ring shopping to drive around town in the rental car hoping to find some nicer casual boots/shoes I could wear for the ceremony as well as around town when I'm not in uniform or doing PT.  It turns out (to no one's surprise) that I have abnormal needs/tastes for footwear.  We searched high and low for a simple, stitched welt boot or stout leather shoe, but it seems folks around here just aren't into that.  Too much nylon and plastic sole molding and goofy lacing.  We ended up going right back to the first shop we stopped at and I got these:

Doc Marten's Paved Jasper. They've got less chunky, thinner soles than regular Docs and the waxed brown leather can take a polish well enough (the polish has made mine darker and a bit more even in color than this picture).  They were perfect for our little ceremony and have broken in quickly and comfortably.  I am a little worried about them being too hot for the summer, but that remains to be seen.  Overall, a solid, understated product from a company better known for their more garish designs.

When Sarah was here this last time, she and I picked up a bottle of Trois Pistoles because I had enjoyed Maudite and La Fin du Monde from the Québécois Unibroue before and also thought the bottle looked epic.  Unfortunately it was a lot like Brewery Ommegang's Three Philosophers, which I had back at Killdare's when I saw it on-tap.  Both are Belgian style dark ales that smell absolutely wonderful. Dark fruits and deft multi-fermentation. There is clearly a lot of attention and craftsmanship in both, but the flavor is just too much for my palate.  It's not too hoppy or too bitter; kind of a sour cherry/spice flavor that just doesn't belong in my beer.  Not every beer adventure can be a victory.  This was a voyage of discovery.

Driving, Goats, and Delirium Nocturnum

We had a 4-day weekend and I borrowed a car to take a friend up to the Dallas/Fort-Worth airport so he could fly home for a few days.  Since I was already on the road, I also decided to visit a Pennsylvania friend at her internship at a goat dairy.  Texas is a big place, and the Mia Bella Farm is no where near Dallas, but I bought a map and made it work.  It was great to visit Carrie and see how the farm operation runs.  Socialized goats are very friendly as were the cats and labradors.  The Rhodesian Ridgebacks were less enthusiastic about meeting me, but they recently had puppies.  Part of the visit involved traveling a short way to Houston to sell goat-products (mostly cheese, but yogurt and kefir too) at a farmers' market in the city.  It was a fun experience to see all of the produce and craftspeople who make/harvest it and a refreshing difference from the chow hall and prepackaged/preserved lifestyle here at Fort Hood.

I have a growing list of beers I have tried in the last two months, but I cannot get them from my laptop to here easily with the Wifi failures and external device restrictions around base.  Instead, I think I will type up one per day via Kindle and try to put some regular content up here.

The first will be the tasty Delirium Nocturnum from Huyghe Brewery, Belgium.  It's a Belgian tripel, dark ale with complex flavorings.  I had it a while ago and did not take good notes (which is why I'm doing it first), but it was very good and I have a second bottle waiting patiently in my fridge for the right evening.

New Beginning

New year, new state, new job, new engagement.

New obligations and tribulations.  New opportunities and adventures.

Time for a new weblog I think.

I can’t make any promises on post regularity or content, but I can give a summary of my life at the moment and topics I’ve the urge to write about.

I am a Private First Class recently graduated from One Station Unit Training as a 12B Combat Engineer.  On the 27^th of December I arrived at my first duty station: Fort Hood, Texas.  I’ve been assigned to 1^st Cavalry, 2^nd Brigade Combat Team, Special Troops Battalion.  I‘d like to share whatever training and deployment news I can as well as general musings about army life, the military, and related topics (with as little military jargon as I can).

I am also recently engaged to be married to a beautiful girl named Sarah.  However, my fiancé has another semester left at the University of Pittsburgh and I have my Army obligations, so no date or details are set.  Even if you know me personally, please don’t take anything posted here as definitive or official wedding news.  We’ll use facebook and the regular old post office for that.

Reviews.  I will try and review things I have personal experience with such as issued and personal-purchase military gear, camping equipment, and programs and applications for my Kindle.  Maybe some books and music as well.

Another type of review I intend to do here is more for my benefit than readers’.  I received some books about beer for Christmas and I think I should be more deliberate about trying different beers and determining my personal tastes.  My general preferences: Brown ales, Pale Belgian ales, and Amber lagers.  Most recently I had a 22oz Maudite from Unibroue for New Years eve.  It was excellent.  A sipping/savoring beer, of course, and rather strong at 8% ABV, but rich and complex in flavor.  A subtle and pleasant taste of pineapple lingers on the palate.